Sheedy: Irish players sparked violence in ’05 rules
Sheedy, claims in his autobiography, ‘Stand Your Ground’ that GAA players were guilty of “ankle tapping and raking our players with their feet” in the opening test in Perth.
The AFL legend claimed that such incidents led to the infamous ‘clothes line tackle’ by Chris Johnson on Matty Forde and Philip Jordan.
Said Sheedy: “They didn’t play their game like that. Chris was suspended but in his defence a lot of Irish players had been ankle tackling and raking our players with their feet.
“It’s fair to say that as far as our players were concerned, they didn’t mind if they were punched, but they took umbrage at being kicked. For Australian players being kicked is like someone coming to your party and knocking over your barbecue. You just don’t do it!
He continued: “We knew that the Irish would be waiting for us when we got over there in 2006. And they were and that was just their media. They have the most enormous press. There would be somewhere between 50 and 70 people at every media conference. The build-up was huge, the tension high. Everyone in Ireland seemed to have heard of Chris Johnson.’’
Sheedy revealed that the tension which surrounded the second test at Croke Park in 2006 was unlike anything he had witnessed in his sporting career.
He said: “We really had to build ourselves up for the second test at Croke Park. It was a sell-out. Again the tension and the expectation were enormous.
“We certainly didn’t need Brendan Fevola getting involved in an argument with a barman on the one day off on the whole trip (and getting sent home).
“We won – the game and the series – but again controversy surrounded the match. Danyle Pearce tackled one of their players (Graham Geraghty), their henchman, a bit of a Gaelic version of Leigh Matthews. There was nothing wrong with Danyle’s tackle but the Irishman was knocked unconscious when his head hit the ground and he was taken from the field on a stretcher.
“The tension was amazing. There was only a small number of Australians crowded into Croke Park amid all those very angry Irish people. I had never come across anything like it in my sporting career. There were lots of crisis meetings going on all over the place between Irish and Australian officials, and the series was called off in 2007.
“Despite the ruckus I really enjoyed my time as Australian coach.”
Meanwhile GAA President Nickey Brennan and AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou will meet tomorrow to discuss the future of the series. They have locked in games for 2009 when the GAA celebrates its 125th anniversary but the matches may be put on hold in 2010 and only played every two years.
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